The Golden State Warriors, for as perfect as they had been on their home court at Chase Center all throughout the 2022-23 regular season, have dropped their first Playoff game in their own arena. It didn’t take long for Kendrick Perkins to clown on the Warriors and more so, go at Giannis Antetokounmpo in the process.
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The Sacramento Kings were led by their usual Kentucky basketball duo of De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk with the two guards combining for 54 points. Stephen Curry had himself 29 points and while Klay did drop 22, he wasn’t in ‘Game 6 Klay’ mode as he shot a subpar 2-9 from 3.
The Kings dominated the boards for the most part on the offensive end of the floor with them grabbing 18 offensive rebounds to the Warriors’ 11. Now, with Game 7 in Sacramento imminent, Big Perk brings to the fore Giannis’s analogy about failure.
Kendrick Perkins on the Warriors and Giannis’s comments on failure
Giannis Antetokounmpo recently went viral for his Game 5 postgame press conference comments regarding what failure means to him. He called the Milwaukee Bucks’ 5-game loss to the Miami Heat ‘steps in the right direction’ as he said everything happens in the pursuit of eventual success, claiming failure does not exist.
Both the NBA and Nike have taken these quotes from Giannis and lauded him for it. The ‘Greek Freak’ even talked about how Michael Jordan won 6 titles in 15 years and questioned the reporter if MJ had failed the other 9.
Kendrick Perkins however, doesn’t see it this way. He went at Giannis on national television and has done so again in a tongue-and-cheek tweet about the Warriors losing Game 6 at home.
Stephen Curry and company will now have to journey to perhaps the most energetic stadium in the entire NBA to keep their chances of defending their title alive. Given just how abysmal they played on the road all year long, safe to say that the Kings will be favored to win Game 7.
Is Giannis Antetokounmpo right?
Giannis Antetokounmpo echoed the words of his mentor, Kobe Bryant, when he said that failure essentially did not exist. However, when it comes to the pure essence of sports, there technically is only success and failure.
Yes, the external factors of life such as taking care of your family with the money you earn, taking care of your mental health, and more are important and if Giannis is at peace in that department of his life then in the grand scheme of his life, he’s succeeded regardless of what he accomplished on NBA hardwood.
Unfortunately, sports are much more black and white than life. There’s a winner and there’s a loser. You either win a championship or you don’t. The Milwaukee Bucks were not only title contenders, but were favored to exit the East. They lost in the first round. That, would be considered a failed season.
